Jack Bradbury

John Morin Bradbury

(27 December 1914 - 15 May 2004, USA)

Spencer Spook (Giggle Comics #49, January 1948)

Jack Bradbury was born in Seattle in 1914 and got his interest in comics through the newspaper strips of the time. He joined The Walt Disney Studios in California in 1934 as an in-betweener on several cartoons, including 'The Band Concert' (1935) and 'The Old Mill' (1937).

Donald Duck (W DD29-04)

Later on, he worked as an animator on larger features, such as 'Pinocchio' (1940), 'Fantasia' (1940) and 'Bambi' (1942). Bradbury left Disney shortly after the strike of 1940. After a short spell working at an aircraft facotry and at a shipyard, he returned to animation at Warner Bros, where he worked on films by Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss).

"Doc" Kwak (Merry-Go-Round #2, April 1948)

After about two years, Bradbury joined the animation studio of Jim Davis, where he also got into comics. Working in a studio with Al Hubbard, Hubie Karp and Davis, he worked on comics like 'Spencer Spook' for Richard Hughes comic book operation. Bradbury also worked on a lot of humor features published in comic books by Better Publications, including 'Lucky Duck', 'Stanley Stallion', 'Tuffy the Cat', 'Bagshaw Bear', etc.

Bradbury eventually became a productive artist for Western Publishing in 1947, under art editor Tom McKimson. There, he worked on 'Beany and Cecil' comics, based on the characters created by Bob Clampett. Yet he mostly illustrated stories with Disney characters, such as Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Goofy and Chip 'n' Dale. In addition, he also drew comics with characters from Warner Bros ('Bugs Bunny', 'Elmer Fudd', 'Porky Pig'), Walter Lantz ('Andy Panda & Charlie Chicken', 'Oswald the Rabbit', 'Chilly Willy') and MGM ('Big Pike & Little Tyke').

Pluto (W OS853-05)

He continued to draw for Western until about 1969, and then worked on the foreign market Disney comics for a while. Eventually, failing eyesight forced him to stop drawing. Bradbury then focused on scripting and designing merchandising products for the Disney Merchandise Department.